Professor Martyn Barrett

Emeritus Professor of Psychology

Further information

Biography

Martyn Barrett is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Surrey, UK. He obtained his degrees from the Universities of Cambridge and Sussex. He is a developmental and social psychologist but has a strong commitment to multidisciplinary research. He works on the development of intercultural competence; young people’s political and civic attitudes, cognition, active participation and global citizenship; the development of national and ethnic identifications, prejudice, stereotyping and intergroup attitudes; and young people’s ethnic, national and political enculturation.

Research Interests

My primary research interests are focused on young people, ethnicity, nation and citizenship, the societal challenges which arise from cultural diversity, especially in relationship to children and youth, and the role of education in enhancing young people’s intercultural, democratic and global competence. In particular, my work examines:

The development of intercultural competence

Young people’s political and civic attitudes, cognition, active participation and global citizenship

The development of national and ethnic identifications, prejudice, stereotyping and intergroup attitudes

I also contributed to the development of the conceptual framework and assessments of global competence that will take place in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018. PISA is a triennial international survey carried out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It evaluates education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in science, mathematics and reading. In the last round, which took place in 2015, over half a million students in 72 countries were assessed. In 2018, students will also be assessed on their global competence.

In other work that I have conducted for the Council of Europe, a new educational instrument called the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters (AIE) was developed for use within primary and secondary schools. The AIE was piloted in 16 countries and is intended to support and encourage the development of the attitudes, skills and knowledge required for engaging in appropriate, effective and respectful dialogue with people from other cultural backgrounds. In a follow-up project, the team has developed a second educational instrument called Images of Others – An Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through Visual Media (AIEVM), also for use within primary and secondary schools. The AIEVM was piloted in 18 countries and is intended to support and encourage the development of the attitudes, skills and knowledge required for deconstructing images of cultural others encountered in visual media such as television, cinema, the internet, magazines, newspapers, etc. The AIE team is currently working on a third project to develop an Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through the Internet (AIETI), which will support the development of the attitudes, skills and knowledge required for engaging in appropriate, effective and respectful intercultural exchanges through social media/social networking sites.

From 2009-2012, I coordinated a multinational research project funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme entitled Processes Influencing Democratic Ownership and Participation (PIDOP). This project examined the processes influencing civic and political participation in nine European countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Italy, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey), and drew on the disciplines of Psychology, Sociology, Politics, Social Policy and Education. The project developed a set of detailed policy recommendations for enhancing levels of democratic participation, especially among young people, women, ethnic minorities and migrants. Many of the findings from the project are reported in the book Political and Civic Engagement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives which was published in 2015.

Other projects that I have led in the past include:

Two further multinational research projects, CHOONGE and NERID, both of which were funded by the European Commission. Together, these projects investigated the development of national and ethnic identifications, beliefs and attitudes in 6- to 15-year-old children living in England, Scotland, Catalonia, the Basque Country, Spain, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The main findings from these projects are reported in my 2007 book, Children's Knowledge, Beliefs and Feelings about Nations and National Groups.

A multidisciplinary research project investigating New Ethnicities in British Bangladeshi and Mixed-Heritage Youth. This project was funded by the Leverhulme Trust. It focused on patterns of national and ethnic self-categorization and identification among British Bangladeshi and mixed-heritage adolescents living in London, the cultural practices of these individuals within different situations and contexts, and their perceptions of multiculturalism, racism and discrimination.

I also worked on the multinational project Europe 2038, which was funded by the European Commission. This project examined the sense of European identity among European youth, and explored the visions that European youth have for Europe in the future. This research was conducted in collaboration with colleagues in Albania, Austria, Germany, Italy, Romania and Spain.

From 2013-4, I was a member of the Academic Advisory Group for the UK Government’s Cabinet Office for the production of a Horizon Scanning report on Social Attitudes of Young People. The report explores how young people’s social attitudes, behaviours and experiences have evolved over the past 30 years, examines the drivers that may affect how these attitudes and behaviours evolve over the next 10 years, and provides an assessment of how young people’s attitudes, behaviours and experiences might change by 2024. The report is intended to inform policymaking across a range of Government Departments, and to assist policymakers in taking a longer-term strategic approach so that policies are more resilient to future contingencies.

Oppenheimer, L. & Barrett, M. (Eds.) (2011). National Identity and Ingroup-Outgroup Attitudes in Children: The Role of Socio-Historical Settings. Special Issue of the European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8(1), January 2011.

Barrett, M. & Oppenheimer, L. (2011). Findings, theories and methods in the study of children’s national identifications and national attitudes. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8, 5-24.

Oppenheimer, L. & Barrett, M. (2011). National identity and in-group/out-group attitudes in children: The role of sociohistorical settings. An introduction to the Special Issue. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8, 1-4.

Barrett, M. (2005). National identities in children and young people. In S. Ding & K. Littleton (Eds.), Children’s Personal and Social Development (pp. 181-220). Milton Keynes: The Open University/Blackwell Publishing.

Atzaba-Poria, N., Pike, A. & Barrett, M. (2004). Internalizing and externalizing problems in middle childhood: a study of Indian (ethnic minority) and English (ethnic majority) children living in Britain. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 28, 449-460.

Barrett, M., Wilson, H. & Lyons, E. (2003). The development of national in-group bias: English children’s attributions of characteristics to English, American and German people. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 21, 193-220.

Buchanan-Barrow, E., Barrett, M. & Clausse, S. (2003). An exploration of children’s thinking about citizenship: British children’s national identification as a factor in their involvement and affect for both local and national communities. In Proceedings of “Connections: Active Citizenship and Multiple Identities” Conference (pp. 49-61). Leuven, Belgium: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Buchanan-Barrow, E. & Barrett, M. (2003). The Development of Children’s Conceptions of Mental Illness. End of Award Report to Economic and Social Research Council, Grant No. RES-000-22-0073. Guildford: Department of Psychology, University of Surrey.

Barrett, M., Bennett, M., Vila, I., Valencia, J., Giménez, A., Riazanova, T., Pavlenko, V., Kipiani, G. & Karakozov, R. (2001). The Development of National, Ethnolinguistic and Religious Identity in Children and Adolescents Living in the NIS. Final Report to the International Association for the Promotion of Cooperation with Scientists from the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union (INTAS), Open Call 1997 Project No. 1363. Guildford: Department of Psychology, University of Surrey.

Barrett, M. (2001). The development of national identity: a conceptual analysis and some data from Western European studies. In M. Barrett, T. Riazanova, & M. Volovikova (Eds.), Development of National, Ethnolinguistic and Religious Identities in Children and Adolescents (pp. 16-58). Moscow: Institute of Psychology, Russian Academy of Sciences (IPRAS).

Barrett, M. (2015). Competences for democratic citizenship and intercultural dialogue: the education of globalized citizens in a digitalized world. Invited keynote address to the Nasjonale Retningslinjer for Lærerutdanning – Conferanse 2015 [National Guidelines for Education – Conference 2015], ‘Educating for Global Citizenship in a Digital Society’, organised by the National Council for Teacher Education (Norway), Centre for ICT in Education and the European Wergeland Centre, Oslo, Norway, 12th March 2015.

Barrett, M. (2013). Competences for intercultural dialogue. Invited plenary presentation at the Council of Europe High-Level Conference on “Competences for a Culture of Democracy and Intercultural Dialogue: A Political Challenge and Values”, 7th-8th February 2013, Andorra La Vella, Andorra. [Associated paper]

Pachi, D. & Barrett, M. (2011). British Bangladeshi and Congolese young people in London: Do their experiences of political participation differ and why? Paper presented at the Bologna PIDOP conference, “Engaged Citizens? Political Participation and Civic Engagement Among Youth, Women, Minorities and Migrants”, May 11th-12th, 2011, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

Pachi, D. & Barrett, M. (2011). British Bangladeshi young people and the British political system: perceptions of belongingness and access in comparison to English young people. Paper presented at the 7th Annual Conference of the Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism (CRONEM), “Global Migration and Multiculturalism: Religion, Society, Policy and Politics”, 28th-29th June 2011, University of Surrey, UK.

Pachi, D., Garbin, D. & Barrett, M. (2010). Processes of political (and civic) engagement and participation in the London area: the effect of age, gender and minority status. Paper presented at the conference on “Civic, Political and Cultural Engagement Among Migrants, Minorities and National Populations: Multidisciplinary Perspectives”, Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism (CRONEM), University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, June 2010.

Barrett, M. (2008). Intercultural competences: some reflections based on the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters. Invited paper presented at the Council of Europe Seminar on “Images of the ‘Other’ in History Teaching: The Role of History Teaching Institutions in the North and Global South”, hosted by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe, the Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Development Network, Lisbon, Portugal, September, 2008.

Barrett, M. (2008). The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters. Invited paper presented at the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the Council of Europe Conference on “Euro-Arab Days: For Better Mutual Understanding – History, Languages, Media and Intercultural Challenges”, Tunis, Tunisia, October 2008.

Vadher, K. & Barrett, M. (2007). National and ethnic identifications and acculturation practices in British-born Indian and Pakistani adolescents. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, March 2007.

Vethanayagam, S. & Barrett, M. (2007). Acculturation processes in white English ethnic majority group children. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, March 2007.

Barrett, M., Davis, S.C. & Leman, P.J. (2007). Black and white children’s implicit and explicit racial biasing and peer social behaviours. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, March 2007.

Vethanayagam, S. & Barrett, M. (2007). English, Indian and Pakistani children’s national, ethnic and religious identifications. Poster presented at the Annual Conference of the Social Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society, University of Kent, September 2007.

Vadher, K. & Barrett, M. (2006). Boundaries of Britishness in British Indians and Pakistanis. Poster presented at the XVIIIth International Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Spetses, Greece, July 2006.

Vethanayagam, S. & Barrett, M. (2006). Ethnic minority children’s cultural practices and patterns of national and ethnic identification. Poster presented at the XVIIIth International Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Spetses, Greece, July 2006.

Millward, L.J., Houston, D.M., Barrett, M. & Larkin, C. (2006). ‘Who am I in relation to the world of work and the job that I do?’ How gender stereotypes can underwrite occupational choice among 14- to 16-year-olds. Poster presented at the Annual Conference of the Developmental Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society, Royal Holloway University of London, September 2006.

Barrett, M. (2006). The development of children’s national identifications and attitudes. Paper presented to the Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism (CRONEM), University of Surrey, October 2006.

Davis, S.C., Barrett, M. & Leman, P.J. (2005). The role of ethnic group and country identification in the implicit and explicit ethnic group attitudes of young children. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 2005.

Davis, S.C., Leman, P.J. & Barrett, M. (2005). Implicit and explicit ethnic group attitudes: links to individual and group esteem. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 2005.

Barrett, M. (2004). Children’ s sense of national belonging: the development of knowledge and feelings about nations and national groups. Invited address presented at the British Psychological Society London Lectures, London, 6th December 2004.

Barrett, M. (2002). Children's views of Britain and Britishness in 2001. Invited keynote address presented to the Annual Conference of the Developmental Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society, Sussex, September 2002.